Highland Rivers board welcomes NWGA members

Highland Rivers Health announces the appointment of three new governing board members representing Gordon, Pickens and Whitfield counties.

Each of the 12 counties served by Highland Rivers has a representative on the agency’s governing board, appointed by the county’s board of commissioners.

Lane Bennett, a detective with the Gordon County Sheriff’s Office, is the new Gordon County board representative. A military veteran with more than 25 years’ experience in law enforcement, Bennett previously served as the chief of police in Fairmount, Georgia, also in Gordon County. His career has included extensive work with criminal investigative units and multijurisdictional narcotics units.

Mary Ghorley, director of risk management at Piedmont Mountainside Hospital in Jasper, is the new Pickens County board representative. Ghorley, who has worked at Piedmont nearly two decades, is also director of volunteer services and community relations at Mountainside Hospital.

Her community work includes serving as treasurer of the Appalachian Children’s Emergency Shelter, and on the Advisory Board for Chattahoochee Technical College.

Thomas Brown, a semi-retired educator, is the new Whitfield County board representative. Brown worked as an educator with Whitfield County Schools for more than 20 years before retiring in 2015.

Following his retirement, Brown served part-time as executive director for the DEO Clinic, a nonprofit clinic that provides free medical care to low-income uninsured residents of Whitfield and

Murray counties, and started his own music production business.

“Our governing board members provide vital linkages to the communities served by Highland Rivers Health, each of which is important and unique,” said CEO Melanie Dallas. “More than that, they also provide linkages to community partners, in this case education, healthcare and law enforcement, that are critical for ensuring a responsive and highquality behavioral health system in northwest Georgia. We are very pleased to have Mr. Bennett, Mr. Brown and Ms. Ghorley join our governing board.”

Highland Rivers’ governing board includes a representative from every county in the agency’s 12-county service area, with two representatives from both Floyd and Polk counties. Members serve three-year terms and terms are staggered to ensure continuity of governance.

The governing board meets every other month – in February, April, June, August, October and December – and all meetings are open to the public. For more information about the Highland Rivers Health governing board, visit highlandrivershealth.com/ governing-board/.